In the early 1980's I found a N.O.S. Buick built Pratt & Whitney radial engine in a recyclers scrap pile.
G.M. was tearing down a Fisher Body plant in Flint, Mi. and they were dumping all the scrap at a local yard. One day I was driving by the yard and looked inside the gate to see that huge P & W in a pile of shelving and other debris. I turned around and asked at the office to go '' just look around'' and then made a bee-line for that engine!
It was a beauty! A brand new, never fired bomber engine with all the accessories. The only thing missing was the propeller and the exhaust manifolds. You could stick your hands into the massive exhaust ports and they were spotlessly clean without a trace of carbon or oil. Unfortunately, it had been dumped there and a few fins were broken off a couple of cylinders, but hey, it was still worth asking about.
The guy at the desk said I'd have to ask this other guy, but he was on lunch. He said that a GM truck just dumped it a few minutes ago from the Fisher site and they were getting a couple loads of old stuff from the basement storage area of the plant every day now. I went out and looked at a few more piles and found plenty of brand new V6 and V8 blocks and even a few straight 6s or 8s, all bare blocks or parts piles, but no more radials. When I got back to the yards office, but the guy was still at lunch so I left. I came back the next day, and the next, but could never catch that elusive dude. I left my phone number and quit bugging them, but I never heard any more about it. About a week later, the pile and the engine were gone- no doubt crushed and sent to the furnaces. Oh, well.
A few years later I hauled a load of my own scrap into the same yard and as I was waiting to be unloaded, I struck up a conversation with a worker there. When I told him my sad story of the bomber engine he laughed and said ''Its still here!'' We walked between some piles of twisted steel and came to a pile of ''Dirty Aluminum'' and there it was. It was completely wrecked. Every cylinders fins were broken off, and a few of the cylinders themselves were missing and every orifice was absolutely packed full of mud, rust and foundry sand. The crankcase was stove in from being crushed and the magnetos and carburettor were also smashed beyond recognition. I think the prop hub had been cut off as well. ''We just dug it up a few weeks ago. It was buried over there.'' he said as he motioned behind us to yet another massive pile of metal. ''If you want it, go tell Mike(?) up front at the gate and I'll get it out of here.''
I seriously thought about it, but decided to pass. Mike was probably out to lunch anyway.
NOW as to your original question, ''What kind of project is in your garage?'' You mean you guys can still get in your garages??
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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